A dark lord, a couple of jokers, and a little Garth

On Sunday, June 3rd, Yume and I went to the open quad area where the annual "America Day" festivities are held in Misawa. In the 3 years I've been here, this was my first experience at America Day, though I'm glad I was able to attend. It's mostly what you might expect. Droves of people show up to gorge themselves on junk food and spend money on kitschy crap that they could otherwise do without—but it's all in good fun!

Yume and I first toured the entire grounds, consisting of around fifty or so covered booths and stands full of people all hawking their wares. Naturally, the hawkers were foreigners, almost exclusively Americans stationed at the base nearby, though the event is designed to draw the local Japanese, young and old alike. From what I could tell (hundreds if not a few thousand showed up), it was a success. There was a stage set up for live performances, and even a basketball court where a Japan vs. USA game was scheduled (which I missed). Touring the booths, we picked up some Gatorade, some delicious brownies, and a Monster energy drink (that Yume seemed to love) before standing in line for nearly 40 minutes waiting on a single freakin' turkey leg. It was worth it, however, allowing us time to chow down on a shredded barbecue pork sloppy joe, grab a bag of Funyuns (sooo natsukashii!), a can of Dr. Pepper, and snap a few pictures.

First, we came across Garth (and the female Wayne?) wearing a kick-ass retro Batman shirt.

Throw me the rock, let's roll! I was totally like, "No way!" when I saw this cat strolling the crowd. All hail, Lord Vader!

I think Yume is still more impressed at how great her Monster tastes. Sheesh!

This is what happens when you try to give the Dark Lord a hug.

GRRRRRRRRRWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

A phonetic translation of Chewbacca into Japanese ("chu" and "baka") and then back into natural English again would be something like, "middle idiot" or "stupid note." I'm also adding those to my list of cool band names, such as: "Monkey's Uncle" and "Crashing Through Skylights."

Even the presence of these two clowns doesn't make this picture any less cute.

Who's the middle idiot now?

Anyway, I think it's safe to say I'm grooming Yume into just as fine a geek as I am! (Hey, things could be worse.)